Macon beacon. [volume] (Macon, Miss.) 1859-1995, 1887-03-19

Hazard, Captain Eads' daughter, dated at
Nassau Saturday last, in which Captain
Eads was said TO be suffering from conges-
ton OF the lungs and to be so low that there
was little likelihood of his recovery.
Captain Eads took heavy cold last De.
cember and went to Lakewood, n. j.,
where his health was improving when he
was called to Washington on business con.
nected with the Tehuantepec Ship Railway
bill He returned to New York January
2S so feeble that Dr.. Helmulth at once or
dered him to Nassau, and he sailed for the
Bahamas February with his wife and
Mrs. Hazard.
captain James B. Eads was sixty-seyen
years of age, He was born in Lawrenceburg,
Ind, May %, 1870, and with his parents went 10
ST. Louis in 1893. He was emphatically a self
made man, having left school at the age OF thir-
teen, at which age he began as clerk in dry.
goods store. He evinced disposition to be
an engineer while in this business All his
spare time was devoted 10 mathematics
pertaining TO the object which he had re-
solved to master. In 1912 he constructed div
ing-bell boat to recover cargOes OF sunken
steamers In 1915 he erected at st. Louis the
first glass works west Of the Ohio river. In
1856 he made proposition to the Government
to remove the snags and wrecks which then
DISTRACTED the channels of the Mississippi,
OHIO and Arkansas rivers. This passed the
lower branch OF Congress In 1857, but want
OF time prevented action by the Senate.
On the invitation, in 1861, of President Lin
coin, Mr., Eads designed and constructed
! powerful squadron of eight steamers de-
| signed for use on the Mississippi having
speed OF nine knots an hour, and aggre-
pntinu tons These were ready fully
| equipped and plated, within 100 days from the
| time he received notice 10 do the work. They
| were the first iron-cad vessels constructed by
| the Government. In 1923 he designed and
constructed six turreted iron vessels, all heavi'
| ly plated. In lS671i he designed and construct.
ed the great steel-arched bridge over the Mis-.
| sissppi river at St. Louis This work Is re.
nowned among the great engineering feats OF
| the century, and its construction was regarded
| at the time by scientific men as the solution or
a great problem in the engineering world.
The crowning work OF his life was that OF
! deepening the mouth Of the Mississippi river.
/ This was in 1874. His plans for this work met
! with strenuous opposition from Government
! engineers, but Captain Eads succeeded in hav-
| ing them adopted by proposing TO do the work
| without remuneration until he showed Congress
| that his work was accomplished and practical
| Permission was granted in 1875, and in June Of
that year the construction OF what was then and
| is still known as the 'jettles' was begun, and
| the completion OF the work as he had planned
| IL was accomplished
In 1879 Mr., Eads proposed his ship railway
across the American isthmus. II Is tamiliarly
/ known TO the American public as the Tehuante
| pee or Nicaragua Ship railway. The scheme
received the Endorsement Of Congress during
the sessiol Just closed. In the month OF Au-
| gust, 1884, he was awarded the Albert medal by
| the Society Of Arts in England, in recognition
! OF the valuable aid which his services have rem
| dered TO the commerce OF the world.